My father was an early adopter of personal computers, and I inherited a “learn to do by doing” ethic from him in this regard: neither of us had any formal computer training, we just hit our head against the wall until we knew what to do.

There was no greater expression of this than Beach Changes, a computer-animated film that Dad created in 1985 for the open house at the Canada Centre for Inland Waters. I found a copy of the film on an old server, and save it here for posterity. As you watch it, remember that this was all created on a TRS-80 Color Computer from Radio Shack, painstakingly animated in BASIC, letter by letter by letter. And, what with CCIW being a federal agency, in both English and French.

The heart of the matter, starting at 2:30, is a series of photos of the shore of Lake Ontario taken between 1980 and 1982, illustrating, like the tin says, beach changes over the seasons.

The music is from Moe Koffman’s jazz rendition of The Four Seasons (GRT, 1972).